For Liverpool supporters, the desire to gain justice for the 96 fans who died at Hillsborough in 1989 burns as brightly now as it did back then. Recent months have seen the fight move to parliament, with hundreds of thousands of people signing petitions calling for a full disclosure of documents relating to the tragedy and in the case of one victim, Kevin Williams, a fresh inquest into the cause of death. Next up, however, comes perhaps the most unique endeavour undertaken in this fight and one that proves Kopites are willing to give their bodies as well as hearts and souls to the cause.

On 12 April, three days before the 23rd anniversary of the tragedy, six Liverpool supporters will embark on a 76-mile run from the memorial to the 96 at Hillsborough to the pitch at Anfield, in time for their team's Premier League match with Fulham on 14 April. All money raised from the effort, whose motto is "3-6-76-96", will be donated to the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and the Hillsborough Families Support Group, with this being the first time the two bodies have been involved in the same initiative.

The six runners are Neil Mitchell, Chris Dale, John Driscoll, Wesley Young, Earle Jackson – who was at Liverpool's fateful FA Cup semi-final tie with Nottingham Forest on 15 April 1989 – and Dominic Williams – whose brainchild this run is.

"I've become a keen runner over the past eight months or so and, in that time, done a few charity runs," Williams says. "At the same time I have always been a big supporter of the justice campaign and after coming across the mosaic for the 96 at the club museum prior to our opening match of this season, against Sunderland, it clicked – I should combine the two; run in the name of the Hillsborough victims.

"I looked to see if it had been done before, and whether it was possible or not. I first thought that maybe it should be a 96 mile-run, but then decided to focus on running from Hillsborough to Anfield. It was then a case of speaking to the relevant authorities, such as Liverpool city council, to make sure it could be done. Thankfully nobody objected."

The six runners, backed by a nine-strong support team that includes two physios, a press officer and a cycle-bound outrider whose job it is to make sure nobody gets lost, intend to pound through the Trans-Pennine Trail, covering 30 miles on day one, which will take them to Hyde, and another 30 miles on day two, which should see the group reach Widnes. It is then a 16-mile run through Liverpool itself, with Anfield the final destination.

"The support we have received has been superb," Williams says. "The Holiday Inn in Sheffield has given us complimentary rooms for the night before we set off, while the Village Hotel in Hyde and the Everglades Park Hotel in Widnes have also agreed to put us up after each of the first two days. For Liverpool to allow us to finish the run on the pitch in front of a full house at Anfield is the icing on the cake, a dream come true."

That dream will be somewhat scuppered should Kenny Dalglish's side progress to the FA Cup semi-finals, which are being played at Wembley that weekend. In that circumstance, however, the club has said the runners can still enter the stadium on 14 April and then receive a richly deserved round of applause from the Kop before Liverpool's next home match, against West Bromwich Albion, on 22 April.

With a little over a month to go before the run the only remaining concern, then, is whether or not the six runners will be able to stay the distance. They are all doing the training required and for Williams in particular, this challenge represents an extension of a pursuit for peak fitness.

"I gave up smoking last May having been a 20-a-day man and have since done over 20 half-marathons and two full marathons," says the 36-year-old father of three, who used to work as a stable boy for the champion trainer Paul Nicholls. "I've also drastically cut my drinking and upped the amount of swimming I do. I'm on a personal journey and this is just the start for me."

The run has gained a huge amount of attention within Liverpool as well as garnering the backing of local MP Steve Rotherham, who himself is a staunch supporter of the justice campaign, and the public approval of the two groups set to benefit from the money raised.

"Seventy-six miles for 96 fans is absolutely amazing," says Margaret Aspinall, chair of the Hillsborough Family Support Group. "You can't thank these people enough for keeping the profile of Hillsborough going."

Kenny Derbyshire, chairman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, says: "You've got to give credit to these people. It's a hard task and all you can do is wish them all the best and say thank you."

For Williams, who was raised in Allerton, south Liverpool and first visited Anfield in 1988, recognition and thanks are secondary to his desire to fight on behalf of those who lost their lives and suffered injury in his club's darkest hour.

"For any Liverpool supporter this is a cause which will forever live in our hearts," he says. "Unless you're from the city you perhaps do not understand the sense of community that exists in Liverpool and Hillsborough was a tragedy which affected the whole community. No Liverpudlian, red or blue, has forgotten what happened and 23 years on we remain as determined as ever to make sure the 96 did not die in vain and that the authorities do not get away with what they did, or rather did not do, on that day. The run is our chance to play a part in the wider cause."